Can California earmark more funds for public schools?

California’s per-student funding has risen substantially in recent years, climbing from near the bottom in the nation in 2010 with $8,826 to 13th in 2023 with $19,984. But some say the state should and can allocate more funds to public education. They look to something called “effort,” the share of the state’s economy earmarked for public school funding. The state ranks 20th in economic “effort,” the percentage of a state’s gross domestic product (GDP) given to funding public TK-12 education, according to the Education Law Center in its most recent national study. The study uses data from 2023. 

3.23

the percent of California’s economy earmarked for funding its public schools, by share of gross domestic product, in 2023.

20

California’s national ranking in funding “effort” in 2023, which rose from 34th the previous year. Only Hawaii has made a bigger jump in the same time period.

California’s GDP is, by far, the largest in the nation. Getting to 20th for “effort” marks a big increase in funding for California, which came in 34th by this measure in 2022 and 41st the previous year. But states including South Carolina (10), Kansas (15) and West Virginia (17) all still outranked California in “effort.”  Yes, California still provides more funding for its public schools than these states, while contributing less proportionally. And in California, along with a higher gross domestic product, there is a higher cost of living, meaning education dollars don’t stretch as far.

It may sound counterintuitive to say that if California put as much “effort” into funding public education as Kentucky does (14), California schools would have more money. Kentucky has to prioritize more (.17% of GDP) to wind up with $2,836 less in funding than California, since California’s per-capita GDP is so much higher — $82,877 to Kentucky’s $49,316.

Most of the states in the top 10 of the law center’s funding “effort” are in the Northeast. But besides New York, they all have lower per-capita GDP than California. Vermont, ranking first, spends over $7,000 more per pupil, despite having a per-capita GDP of $28,559 less than California; it does this by allocating 5.44% of its GDP to public schools. Granted, Vermont is a small state with a total population less than San Francisco. But New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Michigan all put more total dollars into education funding than California, despite having state GDPs that are more than $10,000 lower per capita.   

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